![]() Overall, the morning weigh-ins were light. Overnight weigh-ins were light, morning saw an ebb tide, and many fishers were keying on the coming flood of the afternoon, when hopes to clinch a money spot before the scales closed would be the highest.īy the morning high tide, there was the 18.52-pounder, eight 16-pounders, and six 15-pounders, with the lowest weight 15.18. Just like day one, day two started off pleasant with a slightly increasing breeze, although more boats converged east. Going into the second day, not much changed overnight, except that Connecticut gained a spot in the top 15, cutting New York’s lead to 8-7. At this point, there five 16-pounders following the first-place fish. By late morning, Connecticut edged up, bringing the standings to New York 9, Connecticut 6, with the 18.52-pounder still holding on to what some considered an insurmountable lead. 27, a blue weighing 18.52 pounds (that was around 14 years old) topped the scale at Jack’s of Westbrook, followed by a couple of 16-pound weigh-ins from New York. New York got the ball rolling by claiming 13 of the initial top 15 spots. It didn’t take long before early morning weigh-ins started getting logged. The fact that there was an inordinate amount of bait for those toothy critters to chow down on, along with a strong, steady bluefish run through the past few weeks, certainly had a favorable impact on those last-minute registrations. The general consensus was that the favorable weather was going to hold and, evidently, last-minute plans were finalized based on that assumption. ![]() Registration got out to a shaky start, but contestants eventually decided to converge en masse and register for the WICC Greatest Bluefish Tournament on Earth. Fishing inside the bays and maybe along the North Shore of Long Island can still be possible, but only time will tell exactly what Dennis will do.Keith Staschke of Guilford wins Captain Morgan’s Bluefish Contest with this 14.79-pound chopper. ![]() If that’s the case, there won’t be much fishing, especially offshore, being done for the rest of the week. Right now, there is nothing to move the hurricane in one direction or another, and it looks as if it could stay put for a few days, just a couple of hundred miles off the coast. The center says that the chances for Dennis to make landfall along the East Coast are low, but won’t rule it out. Beach erosion will be substantial, and boating, fishing or swimming along the coast will be dangerous. But even as it continues to weaken, high seas and beach erosion will continue along the Jersey Shore and Long Island beaches for much of the week.Īccording to the Hurricane Center in Miami, Dennis will continue to kick up surf along the East Coast from the Carolinas to the southern New England coast as it mills about the same area for the next few days. The latest report on Hurricane Dennis, as of yesterday afternoon, was that it was heading out to sea. It was kind of ironic that the nasty winds being delivered by Hurricane Dennis did not reach the waters of Long Island Sound until late Sunday, just as the contest was ending. ![]() The contest awarded prizes to the top 20 finishers, and the 20th spot went to Joe Basile of The Bronx for his 15.79-pound bluefish that he weighed in at Jack’s Bait and Tackle on City Island. Vince’s 17.85-pound bluefish earned him $3,000, enough money to keep him in bait for a long time to come. He’s won other local tournaments, but nothing on this scale. In fact, he’s something of a child prodigy when it comes to fishing. He’s been fishing in Long Island Sound in the waters off Port Washington as long as he can remember. That changed on Sunday, when he collected $10,000 for his second-place bluefish of 18 pounds, which he caught in the Connecticut waters off New Haven.Īnother winner, Vince Zorskas, is only 12 years old but he’s no newcomer to fishing. Pera has been fishing in this contest since it began 17 years ago, but never won a dime. On the other end of the spectrum is Phil Pera of New Haven. I’m sure the $25,000 first-place money will more than help remove any stress his job may cause. He actually caught the big chopper on a frozen piece of bunker. Sion took up the sport a year ago to help shrug off the stresses of his job, and when he heard about the contest he decided to ride down and try fishing in Long Island Sound. It was Sion’s first fishing tournament in fact, fishing was somethinghe had only read about until a year ago. The contest was actually settled by Sunday morning, when Ed Sion, a sheriff from upstate New York, landed an 18.32-pound bluefish from the beach at Rye Playland. THE WEEKEND started out ominously for the WICC Greatest Bluefish Contest on Earth, but the blustery winds and overcast skies quickly gave way to calm seas and bright sunshine as both Mother Nature and the contestants settled in for a picture-perfect weekend.
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